Crash & Burn (Tessa Leoni, #3)(59)

“I mean with Wyatt. Do you think he’ll hurt us? Do you think he’s a bad man?”

“No.”

“Do you like him?”

“I like the cop stuff,” Sophie said at last.

“I like that he’s honest,” Tessa supplied. “He says what he’s going to do, and he does what he says. A man of his word—that’s how people describe him. You know, he thinks we should get a puppy.”

“I think we should get a puppy!” Sophie sat up straighter.

“It’s a lot of work. Especially for Mrs. Ennis. You and I aren’t even home most of the day.”

“I’ll help. I’ll help first thing in the morning, and I’ll help again at night. The puppy can sleep in my room; then I can help even more.”

“I asked Mrs. Ennis about it,” Tessa said, a dog being a potential source of comfort and security for Sophie. And, say, something that would still be there for Sophie, even if Tessa had to leave for a bit. “She wasn’t dramatically opposed. Maybe it would be a nice first step. We could all pick out a puppy together.”

“Including Wyatt?” Faint scowl threatening.

“It was his idea.”

“I guess.”

“Do you plan on hating him forever?” Tessa asked curiously.

“I don’t know. I guess he’s nice enough. And a puppy is good. I’ll have to wait and see.”

“Fair enough.”

Tessa thought that would be it. Sophie would finish her warm milk. They’d both go to bed. But instead, her daughter once more grew serious.

“What are you afraid of, Mommy?”

Tessa had to smile. Other than a recently recovered firearm and a single latent print . . .

Tessa set down her mug. She regarded her daughter as soberly as Sophie regarded her. “There’s an old saying,” she began, “the only thing there is to fear, is fear itself.”

“That’s stupid! There are plenty of things to fear.”

“I know, Sophie. You and I both know. And I guess that’s what scares me. We spend so much time, you and I, preparing for the worst, I worry we’ll miss out on the best. I’ll meet a good guy like Wyatt. You’ll get a perfect puppy. And yet . . . we’ll still be waiting for the next bad thing to happen. That’s not a great way to live, you know. We need to not just see the good, but trust in it a little more. Learn some faith.”

Stop being a lone wolf, she supposed. Talk a little more. Let go of the boundaries. And yet some habits were hard to break.

“That’s why I should get a puppy,” Sophie was saying. “A puppy will definitely help me learn trust.”

“As well as how to scoop poop.”

“Mom!”

Tessa smiled, ruffled her daughter’s hair.

“Thank you for the warm milk, Mom,” Sophie said.

“Thank you for the company.”


* * *



TESSA CLEARED THEIR mugs. She walked Sophie back to her room, tucked her daughter into bed.

Then it was back to her room, where she lay in bed and once more stared at the ceiling.

For all of her wise words to Sophie, the truth was, the next bad thing did loom on the horizon. Three years ago, she’d shot a man. It was not an act she regretted. Though she was sorry the police now had that gun.

And she remained a woman who struggled with trust. Because why not simply tell Wyatt what was going on? Why not show some faith in a man who’d never been anything but honest with her?

Funny, the things that scared a woman like her. Enter a room full of hostile gunmen, check. Talk openly and honestly to the man she loved . . . maybe later.

There was one thing she knew she should do, however, first thing in the morning. She would reach out to Nicole Frank, Wyatt’s DWI suspect, and see how the woman was doing. Because Tessa knew something even if Nicole didn’t remember it.

The past was never completely the past.

It had a way of catching up with you. Especially a past filled with as many sins as Tessa’s.

Or with as many secrets as Nicole Frank’s.





Chapter 22




WYATT ORDERED NICKY to remain in the county’s SUV. Did he have the authority to do that? Nope. Did he have probable cause to arrest her for anything? Not really. Couldn’t nail her for the house fire, as she’d been with him and Kevin the entire time. Even an arrest for Wednesday’s crash was problematic, given her blood alcohol reading didn’t meet the DWI threshold of .08.

Technically speaking, Nicky Frank could walk away from him and Kevin, not to mention the burning embers of her house, and be well within her rights.

Like hell, Wyatt thought, for the third time in as many minutes. She was his only link to something larger, murkier and far more criminal than a lone car accident.

He left Kevin in charge of babysitting, while he went in search of the fire marshal.

“What can you tell me?” Wyatt asked the older man, Jerry Wright, who’d been called out from several towns over. All in all, three separate volunteer fire departments were on the property. It was that kind of blaze, deserving that kind of response.

“Started in the outbuilding,” Wright answered crisply now. They had to stand well back, not just because men were still working hoses, but because the flames were throwing off tremendous heat. “Definitely an accelerant, and lots of it. Metal buildings don’t normally like to burn. But this one. Shi-it.”